The nfl seems to be operating on the thought that as long as they continue to hand out fines people will ignorantly believe that there must have been an infraction. And it's probably true. Most people won't see the actual non-foul, so they will believe that something awful must have happened here in order to warrant a this kind of fine. Obviously we know that it's not only false, but with the fine, it's apparent that Goodell is basically lying about what happened to the non-informed general public. Makes me glad, I no longer support the nfl financially by buying merchandise or attending games. I do still support the nfl in a way by watching the games (Seahawk games at least) which helps them get advertising business. I will have to reconsider this, as I can not and will not continue to support such a fraudulent attempt justifying a fixed system. Maybe I'll go back to watching WWE wrestling. At least they don't attempt to hide behind some fake legitimacy, like Goodell and Stern and Selig are doing and have done for years._________________Consistent application beats complex programming.

Believe this, if Earl Thomas has another incident, one that really warranted a fine, they will come back to this incident and say its a pattern. Thats what the NFL is trying to do. ESPN writers are doing the same thing. Not the best example, but with Ndamukong Suh, they bring up the time where he pushed Jay Cutler hard to the ground and the announcer falsely thought it was an elbow to the head. They try to make everything stick, and its getting harder for clean defensive players.

That was a total B/S call and it cost us the game... I couldn't believe they called that a 'roughing the passer' foul.. first off, Tannehill was outside the pocket, and secondly Earl never hit him in the head, it was more in the high-chest area...

That was just another example of how poor the regular refs can be.. crap like that costs teams wins and playoff spots!_________________....

"Guess what! I got a fever, and the only prescription, is MORE COWBELL!!" - Christopher Walken

I remeber when the NHL went all out to protect the goal tenders 10+ years ago. Those rules went overboard and changed the out come to many games and I ended up stop watching because refs and rules are boring.

Now those feeling are starting again for me about the NFL after that ET bs call that changed the out come. ET was trying to block the pass and this is not basketball. I can understand not allowing players to use their helmet as a weapon, but let the helmet serve it's purpose to protect their heads from the contact of the game.

I can see why former players are saying the NFL has peaked. The NFL needs changes but not these changes. Just like asking for a glass of water and you end up having a lake shoved down your throat.